In laboratories which perform medical imaging such as X-ray, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), or ultrasound imaging, multiple medical images of a patient are usually taken, substantially contemporaneously, in an imaging session. The images may be referred to collectively as a “study”. A single study typically includes multiple views of the patient, such as a front view (which may be called the anterior-to-posterior, or AP view, or the posterior-to-anterior, or PA view, depending upon whether the film is behind or in front of the patient), a lateral view, and an oblique view. The number and types of views in a study may be based on the region of the body being imaged. For example, the above-noted three views are typically taken for studies involving the shoulder, hand, thumb, finger, foot, or toe; at least five views are typically taken for studies involving the lumbar spine; and at least seven views may be taken for studies involving the cervical spine.
After medical images have been captured and digitized, they are conventionally assembled into an electronic file which is transmitted over the Internet to a radiologist. Several studies may be combined or “bundled” into one electronic file, such that there may be as many as sixty or more digital images in the file.
In a known system, the radiologist is provided with one (colour) monitor for displaying text and two (black and white) monitors for displaying images. Software allows the radiologist to select a study whereupon the requisition appears on the text monitor and a thumbnail of each of the images appears on the left hand side of the first image monitor. The radiologist may select a view type, namely, a split-4 or split-9 screen, whereupon the screen of the first image monitor is divided into 4 or 9 cells and the first 4 or 9 images are displayed. The radiologist may then request display of the next 4 or 9 images, and so on. Additionally, the radiologist may drag an image from one of the cells to the second image monitor in order to obtain a full screen display of that image.
Problematically, the images of a study are in no guaranteed order. Further, the image size on a split 4 or 9 screen may be insufficient to allow the radiologist to see important details. Moreover, consecutively looking at full sized images dragged to the second screen may not allow the radiologist to proper correlate features from different views or to correlate features from the same view taken at different times, e.g. for the purpose of tracking the progression of a medical condition.
Another problem is that current approaches for recording audio (e.g. dictated notes, such as preliminary diagnoses) in conjunction with displayed medical images may not permit a recording associated with a study to be selectively controlled in the case where multiple recordings exist for a bundle of studies in an electronic file.
A solution which obviates or mitigates one or more of the above-noted problems would be desirable.